Home Culture Attachment of Iranian English Language Students Studying at Universities and Institutes

مطالعات زبان و ترجمه

Article 5, Volume 53, Issue 4, February 2021, Pages 135-164   

Document Type: Research Article (Language and Culture)

DOI: 10.22067/lts.v53i4.87169

Authors

Saba Hasanzadeh; Elaheh Sotoudehnama^* ; Seyyedeh Fahimeh Parsaiyan

Department of English Language and Literature, Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

The aim of the current study is to investigate if teaching English as a foreign language makes learners lose or decrease their home cultural values, ​​or it helps them enrich their cultural values. This mixed-methods study was conducted in two different contexts, University and Language Institute in Gorgan, Iran. For this purpose, a questionnaire of Home Culture Attachment Scale was given to 50 English language university students and 50 language learners of the institute. Moreover, a semi-structured interview was conducted with 10 participants from each group. Data collected from the quantitative and qualitative stages were analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance and thematic analysis, respectively. The findings of the quantitative stage show significant differences between university students and learners of the institute in terms of religious, Western and Iranian attachment. In addition, six themes were identified in the qualitative section, including identity, definition of culture, Iranian attachment, religious attachment, Western attachment and artistic attachment. This study shows that those who deal with English is at risk of losing or decreasing their home cultural values, and teachers in particular need to be more aware of this crucial matter.
 

Keywords

Culture; English as a Foreign Language; Culture Detachment; Home Culture Attachment

References

درخشان، ع. (1397). تحلیل و نقد ارزش‌های فرهنگی در مجموعه کتاب‌های درسیAmerican English Files پژوهش‌نامه انتقادی متون و برنامه‌های علوم انسانی، 18(8)، 51-73.

رضائیان، م.، قهاری، ش.، و دهمرده، م. (1397). تبعات اجتماعی‌فرهنگی آموزش زبان انگلیسی: آسیب‌شناسی و ارائه مدل چهار وجهی. مطالعات زبان و ترجمه، 50(4)، 169-192.

محسنی‌تبریزی، ع. (1380). آسیب‌شناسی اجتماعی جوانان: بررسی وابستگی به فرهنگ مادری (بیگانگی‌ فرهنگی) و مشارکت فرهنگی در محیط‌های دانشجویی کشور. تهران: انتشارات دانشگاه مفید.

مهران، م.، ستوده‌نما، ا.، و مرندی، س. (1394). دیدگاه‌های زبان‌آموزان در مورد مفهوم فرهنگ و بازتاب آن در آموزش زبان انگلیسی به دانشجویان ایرانی. زبان‌پژوهی، 7(17)، 143-174.

ناجی میدانی، ا.، پیش‌قدم، ر.، و غضنفری، م. (1393). نقش فرهنگ بومی در کلاس‌های زبان انگلیسی: مقایسة سه دیدگاه متفاوت. مطالعات زبان و ترجمه، 47(4)، 91-105.

 

Alfarhan, I. (2016). English as a global language and the effects on culture and identity. American Research Journal of English and Literature, 1-6. Retrieved from https://www.arjonline.org/papers/arjel/v2-i1/10.pdf

Amiri, N., & Yousefi, M. (2016). Home culture attachment and Iranian students’ translation ability. International Journal of English Linguistics, 6(6), 54-66.

Asgari, A. (2011). The compatibility of cultural values in Iranian EFL textbooks. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 2(4), 887-894.

Bachman, L. F. (2005). Building and supporting a case for test use. Language Assessment Quarterly: An International Journal, 2(1), 1-34.

Bakhtin, M. (1981). The dialogical imagination. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press.

Brown, H. D. (2007). Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy. San Francisco: San Francisco State University.

Canagarajah, A. S. (1999). Resisting linguistic imperialism in English teaching. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.

Christian-Smith, L. K. (1991). Texts and high tech: Computer, gender, and book publishing. In M. W. Apple, & L. K. Christian-Smith (Eds.), The politics of the textbooks (pp. 46-70). London, England: Rutledge.

Crystal, D. (2012). English as a global language. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Devrim, D. Y., & Bayyurt, Y. (2010). Students' understandings and preferences of the role and place of culture in English language teaching: A focus in an EFL context. TESOL Journal, 2(1), 4-23.

Field, A. (2018). Discovering statistics using IBM SPSS statistics. London, England: Sage.

Gomez-Lobaton, J. C. (2012). Language learners’ identities in EFL settings: Resistence and power through discourse. Colombian Applied Linguistics Journal, 14(1), 60-76.

Gray, C. D., & Kinnear, P. R. (2012). IBM SPSS statistics 19 made simple. New York, NY: Psychology Press.

Hejazi, M., & Fatemi, A. H. (2015). The impact of linguistic imperialism on Iranian EFL learners’ home culture detachment. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 6(1), 117-122.

Hinkel, E. (Ed.). (1999). Culture in second language teaching and learning. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

Johnson, K. E. (2009). Second language teacher education: A sociocultural perspective. New York, NY: Routledge.

Kachru, B. B. (1986). The power and politics of English. World Englishes, 5(2‐3), 121-140.

Kafi, Z., Ashraf, H., & Motallebzadeh, K. (2013). English textbooks and cultural attitudes of Iranian EFL learners: Investigating a relationship. International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW), 4(2), 25-36.

Kubota, R. (1999). Japanese culture constructed by discourses: Implications for applied linguistics research and ELT. TESOL Quarterly, 33(1), 9-35.

Lee, K. Y. (2009). Treating culture: What 11 high school EFL conversation textbooks in South Korea do. English Teaching: Practice and Critique, 8(1), 76-96.

McKay, S. L. (2003). Toward an appropriate EIL pedagogy: Reexamining common ELT assumptions. International Journal of Applied Linguistics. 1(13), 1-22.

Merrouche, S. (2006). The place of culture in the teaching of English in the Algerian middle and secondary school, (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Mentouri University of Constantine, Algeria.

Meshkat, M. (2002). The cultural impact of EFL books on Iranian language learners, (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

Niżegorodcew, A. (2011). Understanding culture through a lingua franca. In J. Arabski& A. Wojtaszek (Eds.), Aspects of culture in second language acquisition and foreign language learning (pp. 7-20). New York, NY: Springer.

Otwinowska-Kasztelanic, A. (2011). Do we need to teach culture and how much culture do we need? In J. Arabski & A. Wojtaszek (Eds.), Aspects of culture in second language acquisition and foreign language learning (pp. 35-48). Berlin, Germany: Springer.

Pennycook, A. (1998). English and the discourses of colonialism. London, England: Routledge.

Peterson, B. (2004). Cultural intelligence: A guide to working with people from other cultures. Yarmouth, ME: Intercultural Press.

Phillipson, R. (1992). ELT: The native speaker’s burden. ELT Journal, 46(1), 12-18.

Pishghadam, R., & Kamyabi Gol, A. (2009). The relationship between accent and deculturation among EFL learners in Iran. Paper presented at 7th international TELLSI conference, Yazd, Iran.

Pishghadam, R., & Navari, S. (2009). Cultural literacy in language learning: Enrichment or derichment. Paper presented at 1st International Conference on Languages, Malaysia.

Pishghadam, R., Hashemi, M., & Bazri, E. (2013). Specifying the underlying constructs of the home culture attachment scale. International Journal of Society, Culture, and Language, 1(1), 37-51.

Saafin, S. (2019). How to help students learn English better: Towards creating a language learning culture. English Language Teaching, 12(9), 126-136.

Shahsavandi, S., Ghonsooly, B., & Kamyabi Gol, A. (2010). Designing and validating home culture attachment questionnaire for students of foreign languages and its application. Ferdowsi Review, 1(1), 49-76.

Sharifi Friz, Z., Motallebzadeh, K., & Bemani Naeini, M. (2017). EFL learners’ home culture attachment and their attitudes towards English language learning: A structural equation modeling approach. International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English Literature, 6(7), 161-168.

Soto-Molina, J. E., & MÊndez, P. (2020). Linguistic colonialism in the English language textbooks of multinational publishing houses. HOW, 27(1), 11-28.

Tabachnick, B. G., & Fidell, L. S. (2014). Using multivariate statistics (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Inc.

Van Dijk, T. A. (2001). Political discourse and ideology. Retrieved from http://www.hum.uva.nl/teun/dis-pol-ideo.htm

Volkmann, L. (2011). English as a lingua franca: Boon or bane?. Paper presented at First Annual Conference of Challenges and Necessities Regarding Culture in the Quality of Teaching Foreign Languages. Tehran.

Wang, X. (2014). Effects of the second language on the first: A study of ESL students in China. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 4(4), 725-729.

Widdowson, H. G. (2003). Defining issues in English language teaching. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.

Zarei, G. R. (2011). Cultural effects of L2 learning: A case study of Iranian learners learning English. Elsevier Ltd. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 15(2011), 2048-2053.